St. John’s junior hockey all-star game rescheduled

15th annual contest between City and Avalon division set for Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 8 p.m.

The Penney Kia St. John’s Junior Hockey League all-star game, postponed last week, has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 21 at the Jack Byrne Arena.Chris Ryan, the league’s registrar and statistician, said Monday the league has talked with Jack Byrne Arena manager Lorne Tucker and the new date has been ”confirmed.”

The 15th annual event, featuring the City vs. Avalon teams, will start at 8 p.m.

“In our 15-year history of having an all-star game, this is the first time we’ve had to reschedule,” noted Ryan.

He also pointed out that the league has never had to cancel an all-star game.

“We came close one year, though” said Ryan. “We were hosting the game at Mile One Centre and the St. John’s Fog Devils came into town and Mile One gave our ice time to them which caused us to move the game to Jack Byrne. We’ve stayed there since then.”

Meanwhile, Ryan said the league was forced to cancel seven games because of the rotating power outages and poor weather conditions in recent weeks.

Ryan said some of the games have already been rescheduled and others are “in the works.”

While several regular-season games have to be made up, Ryan pointed out that because the Central-West Junior League is now designated Junior C, eliminating the need for the Veitch provincial junior hockey championship.

“That gives us more time before the Don Johnson Memorial Cup to clue everything up and for our league winner to get ready for that competition.”

The Don Johnson Memorial Cup is the junior B hockey championship tournament for the Atlantic provinces.